As informatization deepens, machine to machine (M2M) information transmission is implemented by using a network, which has an advantage of real-time performance over manual data collection.
In the prior art, a process of LTE-based M2M information transmission is based on a connection, and includes two processes, that is, a random access process and a data transmission process. The random access process includes the following four steps: 1. User equipment (UE) sends a preamble sequence to a base station. 2. The base station sends a random access response (RAR). 3. The base station establishes a synchronous connection with the UE. 4. The base station resolves a conflict that a same preamble sequence corresponds to multiple UEs, and sends a conflict resolution message to the UE.
During implementation of the foregoing data transmission process, the inventors find that the prior art has at least the following problem: M2M information transmission is characterized by a small data volume and many times of data transmission. Because signaling overheads during the random access process do not change, when a data volume of a data packet comparatively decreases, a proportion of the signaling overheads increases during an information transmission process, which results in a waste of resources. For example, when an M2M data packet is transmitted, signaling overheads are 10 bit and a size of the M2M data packet is 10 bit, and a proportion of the signaling overheads to the size of the M2M data packet is 1:1; and when a common data packet such as a data packet of an SMS message is transmitted, signaling overheads are still 10 bit, a size of the data packet of the SMS message is 10 kb, and a proportion of the signaling overheads to the size of the data packet of the SMS message is 1:1024. For the same signaling overheads of 10 bit, compared with 1 kb of the data packet of the SMS message, with respect to sending of a data packet, 1 bit of the M2M data packet has the following problem: the signaling overheads are large and the sent data packet is small, which results in a waste of resources.